Salem
Salem, also known as Old Salem, Sayland or the Haunted City in the past, was the pre-War capital of Oregon. The city was hit hard by nuclear bombs when the Great War occurred, and the ruins remained abandoned for a while, they even became known as haunted. Currently, Salem serves as a sort of mutant sanctuary, giving them refuge from the brutality and bigotry of the wasteland. History Pre-War The Willamette Valley has has been inhabited for over 10,000 years. Indian tribes prospered in fertile valley until the arrival of Europeans and European diseases. The first permanent American settlement in the area was the Jason Lee Methodist mission located in the area north of Salem known as Wheatland. In 1842, the missionaries established the Oregon Institute (the forerunner of Willamette University) in the area that was to become the site of Salem. In 1844, the mission was dissolved and the town site established. After the dissolution of the Oregon Institute, Salem was founded. In 1851, Salem became the territorial capital after it was moved from Oregon City. Salem incorporated as a city in 1857, and with the coming of statehood in 1859, it became the state capital. The Salem Standard, not Salem's first newpaper but no doubt its most important, was founded in 1920 by Caleb Cabot. It was an independent and self-proclaimed unbiased news source for the city of Salem, providing information on both the celebrity status holding and power-wielding political figures of the United States, whilst also having sections dedicated to financial ongoings, sports and domestic news. It did quite a lot of reporting during the twentieth century, but its importance increased in the next century. Salem has had three state capitol buildings. The third and current Oregon State Capitol was completed on the same site in 1938 and was recognizable due to its distinctive pioneer statue atop the capitol dome that is plated with gold-leaf, officially named the Oregon Pioneer. Throughout the twentieth century and early twenty-first century, Salem remained more or less unchanged, even as the United States of America grew around it. Growth just kind of passed Salem by, especially after the creation of the Commonwealths. However, Salem's luck began to turn in the later half of the twentieth century, ironically enough. The city saw an uptick in growth after the Sino-American War began, and the Salem Standard won national acclaim for its reporting on domestic issues in the rapidly declining United States of America. Salem had a brief moment in the national spotlight in the fall of 2070 due to the unfortunately named "Road Rage Rampage" in which an enraged trucker on Interstate 5 killed seventeen people by ramming his rig into their cars before offing himself by crashing into a ditch. News media from all over the country came into Salem to the Salem Standard's dismay and swarmed like flies. However, the hype over the event eventually died down. Any clear motive for the trucker's rampage was never discovered. By the time 2077 rolled around, Salem had become quite tense. Rationing had set in, and the Unamerican Activities Force was investigating the Salem Standard for suspected treason, causing many residents to become paranoid of themselves being investigated. This only compounded their already ever-present fear of nuclear holocaust. A couple of Salem resident were taken in by the UAF, but none were ever convicted. However, this fear was offset by the opening of the Salem Exhibition for Advanced Technologies in 2076. This exhibition included things such as advanced hydroponics, energy weapons, robots, and the centerpiece, a suit of T-51b Power Armor. This drummed up significant interest from the public and even people from out of town. This brief respite was only brief though with things returning to dismal reality by late 2077. Great War On October 23, 2077, Salem was bombed eleven times, a large amount for a comparatively small city. Large parts of Salem were simply blown away by the bombs in Downtown and West Salem. Post-War Layout Salem is divided in two by the Willamette River, but that hardly matters anymore. The city as a whole was almost blown apart by the Great War, leaving most of it uninhabitable. There are few recognizable parts of the city left with most of Salem being either sand or unremarkable rubble. Salem's center in Downtown was the worst hit with hardly any pre-War structures standing there. In fact, the area used to be so radioactive that going in unprotected meant a quick death until the early 2200's. Only feral ghouls and the occasional scavenger/adventurer go through that part of Salem. The only interesting part of the city now is further out from the center such as the Penthouses and the Exhibition. Further out are abandoned suburbs which often serve as haunts for feral ghouls. I-5, Cascadia's major caravan trade route, "technically" runs through Salem, but almost no caravans ever stop in Salem for obvious reasons. The ones that do, to trade with the residents of the Penthouses, prefer to get their trade done and leave quickly. Economy Salem has a largely self-contained economy due to its inhabitants' isolation. There is some trade with the outside at the Penthouse, but that is still quite limited to necessities needed by the Penthouses' residents such as food, purified water, and chems. The Penthouses also trade with the Exhibition. At one point, scavenging was a big business in Salem. Scavengers and prospectors from as far away as the NCR dove into the ruins of Salem, sometimes underground, to find pre-War treasures. It was a dangerous job but also extremely rewarding. Eventually, one group of scavengers in Salem known as the Saylanders banded together and effectively forced any other scavenger groups out of the city. Now, non-Saylander scavengers are a rare sight in Salem due to their bad reputation and the lack of good loot left in the Haunted City. A couple dedicated scavvers from Portland do comb the ruins yearly for a particular treasure in the ruins of Oregon State Capitol. The Exhibition is completely self-sufficient due to the Mutant Council's undaunted efforts. The mutants their have utilized the Exhibition's technology to sustain themselves with minimal need for contact with the outside. The Mutant Council does do some occasional trade with the residents of the Penthouses and the Saylanders in Downtown Salem for some extra caps. Culture For most of its post-War history, Salem has not had a large enough population to have its own culture. Large groups of people did not want to stick around in Salem's accursed and dangerous ruins. The only people to live in Salem in the early years were scavengers in search of remaining scrap and valuable pre-War artifacts and a couple of ghouls left over from before the war. After a few decades, only a few sane ghouls from before the war were left living in Salem along with some of the reclusive shut-ins in the Penthouses. This status as a ruined, empty city gave Salem a reputation for being haunted and mysterious in the late 2100's. A real post-War culture managed to finally develop in Salem upon the arrival of mutants from north and the south in the early 2200's. Both ghouls and super mutants took up residence in the ruins of Salem, making the Haunted City into something of a sanctuary for mutantkind, an accepting community. In a contradictory sense, the "accepting" mutants divided themselves into ghoul and super mutant communities which sometimes clashed with each other. However, they were united in their hatred of aggressive NCR prospectors or independent scavengers that came into Salem looking for treasure. The clashing parts of Salem's mutant community were finally united in 2249 under the Mutant Council. The mutants of Salem managed to form a proper community that could protect itself and even police other areas of Salem. The community remains rather isolationist and skeptical towards non-mutant outsiders. However, they are not actively aggressive and try to stay out of people's way. The mutants also are not completely sold on the "Mutant Unity" message of the Mutant Council, especially the ghouls. The few permanent scavvers left in Salem mostly live in Downtown Salem and make their living as hunter-gatherers most of the time while scavenging what they can. They all know each other and regard themselves as one big family, the Saylanders. They value loyalty, respect, and obedience to your elders. However, Saylanders are very territorial and only recently became peaceful with the mutants. They continue to be hostile towards outsiders and will raid the occasional caravan that wanders into Salem unawares. Notable Locations The Exhibition The Exhibition is the headquarters of the Mutant Council and where most of Salem's mutant population is located. Known as the Salem Exhibition for Advanced Technologies before the Great War, the Exhibition sealed itself when the bombs fell and managed to survive the nuclear holocaust. The Exhibition still holds a wealth of technology which served its new mutated occupants well when they arrived there. As result of its occupants' hard work, the Exhibition is fully self-sufficient. The Mutant Council governs over the Exhibition with a fair hand and has fortified it well against the dangers of the wasteland. Downtown Salem Downtown Salem is barely even a cityscape, it was so affected by the Great War. Downtown used to be one of the most dangerous areas in Cascadia but has become more habitable in the last century or so. It is a land of sand, with only the tops of buildings sticking out. The geckos and deathclaws that once roamed the area were mostly forced out by the organized efforts of the Mutant Council, but a few stubborn creatures remain, ever hungry. Some mutants under the Mutant Council's protection live in Downtown rather than the Exhibition, preferring the wide-open space to being cooped up in one building for the most part. A couple of human scavengers also live in Salem's downtown but try to keep a low profile, avoiding the mutants of the area. The mutants in Downtown know the scavvers are there but do not mess with them as long they stay out of each other's way. There is some occasional trade but nothing consistent. Oregon State Capitol The Oregon State Capitol collapsed in on itself in quite a dramatic fashion soon after the bombs fell in 2077. The site remained radioactive for many years until recently when most of Salem had already become habitable. The Oregon State Capitol is currently in ruins with most of the building having fallen down. Rumors persist among mutants and scavengers of a golden statue buried in the ruins somewhere. These rumors have never been proven but have persisted for generations, leading many a foolhardy scavver to their untimely death. The Penthouses The Penthouses was once the only part of Salem that was habitable, pre-War apartments that had been on the fringes of Salem's radioactive death zone. However, that did not mean life there was easy as first learned in the winter of 2077. The Penthouses have been inhabited on and off since 2077 by various occupants and inhabited continuously since 2221 by members of the Green family. Currently, the Penthouses have about twenty inhabitants, mostly mutants and remaining members of the Green family with a few exceptions. All in the Penthouses are under the understood protection of the Mutant Council as long as they do not cause trouble. Most traders who stop at all in Salem come here, as it is almost as safe as the Exhibition and more accessible. West Salem West Salem lies across the Willamette River from the rest of the the ruins of Salem. The Marion Street Bridge, Center Street Bridge, and Union Street Railroad Bridge that once connected both sides of the city are all destroyed, separating West Salem from the rest of the city. The ruins are out of reach of the Mutant Council and as a result are still infested by feral ghouls. Category:Places Category:Communities Category:Cascadia